Abstract:
Deposit taking savings and credit cooperatives in Kenya have long struggled
to adapt to the evolving technology which has seen several savings and credit
cooperatives collapse as others incur losses. Mobile banking is a digital
innovation that have diffused highly into financial institution creating
competitive advantage. However, there is slow uptake of mobile banking in
deposit taking saving and credit cooperatives. The study therefore seeks to
establish the relationship between mobile banking and financial performance
of deposit taking saving and credit cooperatives in Kericho County. It was
guided by task technology fit theory; a correlational research design was
adopted where the target population was 108 managers of all levels in the five
deposits taking savings and credit cooperatives in Kericho County. Due to a
small target population under study, this research adopted the census survey
technique where all top, middle, and operational level managers were used.
Data were collected by the use of primary and secondary methods. Content
validity was conducted through engaging field experts and digital innovation
professionals to determine the validity of the research instrument, while
reliability was determined through test-retest of the questionnaires where 10
respondents were picked from Tenhos Sacco Society Ltd in Bomet County
for piloting. Data was analysed using both descriptive statistics which
comprises means and standard deviations while hypotheses were tested using
correlation coefficient and multiple regression analysis. Data was presented
in form of frequency tables and pie charts. The findings established that
mobile banking had a strong positive relationship with financial performance
of DT-Saccos (R = 0.729; β = 0.775). The study findings may be useful to
the government in formulating strategies for effective and efficient deposit
taking savings and credit cooperatives; will add value to the literature in the
area of digital innovations in Saccos, and lastly, it may be of help to SASRA
